Multimodal Imaging Sensor Calibration Method for Accurate Image Fusion

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of setting a digital imaging sensor as a reference sensor and a digital image generated by the reference sensor as a reference image.

3. A method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of obtaining the intrinsic parameters of each digital imaging sensors.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the intrinsic parameters comprises one or more of focal length of the lens, position of an optical centre, and lens distortion.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the scaling ratio of each digital image generated by a corresponding digital imaging sensor is equal or substantially equal to the ratio of the focal lengths between the reference sensor and the corresponding digital image sensor.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the extrinsic parameters are obtained by comparing each of the scaled digital images.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the extrinsic parameters comprises one or more of depth of the object, sensors angle, relative distance.

8. A method according to claim 2, wherein the rectifying step comprises the step of obtaining from each digital imaging sensors with the image obtained from the reference camera using the extrinsic parameters pair by pair.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the rectifying step comprises the step of transformation of an image matrix {Ii} of each digital image and the image matrix of the reference image {Ir}, with transformation matrices {Ti} and {Tri} respectively, in a pairwise manner, wherein each pair of image owns a pair of transformation matrices {Ti} and {Tri}, such that multiple pairs of digital images are aligned in a coplanar manner.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein transforming an image matrix {Ii} of each digital image with transformation matrices {Tri−1Ti}, such that all transformed images are aligned on a same plane.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of digital imaging sensors is placed in front of an object at a different distance or at a different viewing perspective.

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of digital imaging sensors is adapted to capture multiple digital images of the object.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein the digital imaging sensors comprises one of a RGB camera, an infrared radiation camera, and a depth camera.

16. A processor according to claim 15, wherein the multimodal imaging sensor calibration and fusion unit is adapted to set a digital imaging sensor as a reference sensor and a digital image generated by the reference sensor as a reference image.

17. A processor according to claim 16, wherein each of the digital imaging sensors is placed in front of an object at a different distance or at a different viewing perspective.

18. A processor according to claim 16, wherein each of the digital imaging sensors is adapted to capture multiple digital images of the object.

19. A processor according to claim 16, wherein the self-calibrating unit is adapted to obtain the intrinsic parameters of each digital imaging sensors.

20. A processor according to claim 19, wherein the intrinsic parameters comprises one or more of focal length of the lens, position of an optical centre, and lens distortion.

21. A processor according to claim 20, wherein the scaling ratio of each digital image generated by a corresponding digital imaging sensor is equal or substantially equal to the ratio of the focal lengths between the reference sensor and the corresponding digital image sensor.

22. A processor according to claim 21, wherein the extrinsic parameters are obtained by comparing each of the scaled digital images.

23. A processor according to claim 22, wherein the extrinsic parameters comprises one or more of depth of the object, sensors angle, relative distance.

24. A processor according to claim 16, wherein the multimodal imaging sensor calibration and fusion unit is adapted to obtain from each digital imaging sensors with the image obtained from the reference camera using the extrinsic parameters pair by pair.

25. A processor according to claim 16, wherein the multimodal imaging sensor calibration and fusion unit is adapted to carry out the transformation of an image matrix {Ii} of each digital image and the image matrix of the reference image {Ir}, with transformation matrices {Ti} and {Tri} respectively, in a pairwise manner, wherein each pair of image owns a pair of transformation matrices {Ti} and {Tri}, such that multiple pairs of digital images are aligned in a coplanar manner.

26. A processor according to claim 25, wherein transforming an image matrix {Ii} of each digital image with transformation matrices {Tri−1Ti}, such that all transformed images are aligned on a same plane.

27. A processor according to claim 16, wherein the digital image sensors are connected to the self-calibrating unit remotely.

28. A processor according to claim 27, wherein the digital image sensors are connected to the self-calibrating unit through an Ethernet connection.

29. A processor according to claim 27, wherein the digital image sensors are connected to the self-calibrating unit through a Wi-Fi connection.

30. A processor according to claim 16, wherein the self-calibrating unit comprises a plurality of individual calibrating modules, each of the calibrating modules is integrated with a digital imaging sensor.

31. A processor according to claim 16, wherein the digital imaging sensors comprises one of a RGB camera, an infrared radiation camera, and a depth camera.